December 5, 2016

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The Advent season has arrived and Christmas is just around the corner. Each of the classes at St. Gabriel School will be involved in our Advent project to help those in need. Each class, from Kindergarten through grade six, will contribute to allow us to prepare a “hamper” for 17 families from our sister school.

Each student is being asked to bring in a specific item for the food hamper. If you are able, a donation of $2.00 for the family would also be most appreciated. Monies collected will go towards the purchase of a grocery store gift card for each family, so the family can purchase a turkey and fresh fruit and vegetables. Should you still have any, we are also asking for donations of Canadian Tire money which will be used to purchase gifts for the families.

We encourage the students to complete a chore at home to earn their own money, so that they experience the gift of giving. Your child is invited to bring in 1 package razors. We will be collecting the hamper items and money from Monday, December 5th until Friday, December 16th.

** Please note we also welcome donations of hats and mittens to send to families in need in our school board.  

Thank you for your generosity and support during the Advent Season.

God Bless,

St. Gabriel Catholic School Staff

Monday Nov. 26, 2016

Dear Parents,

Just two items:

1) On Tuesday we will have a dental screening at St. Gabriel. If you do not want your child to participate please indicate this in the communication book. Thanks.

2) We are now entering the season of Advent. Keep an eye out for the Advent note that will come home tomorrow in the communication bag. The children will bring home a wreath (made from a paper plate) which they may bring home and keep taped to a special spot. The children will be making Advent candles and will bring these home and place them in the wreath as we move through the weeks ahead.

Take care and God bless,

Ms. Couch and Madame Murphy

Animal Day and Bake Sale: Friday November 25th

Just a quick reminder that Friday November 25th is a day that all the children at St. Gabriel's will dress up as their favorite animal. Students may wear an animal hat, mask, costume, or a headband with animal ears. The grade two students are raising funds to protect animals and will hold a bake sale tomorrow to that end. Students are welcome to bring in change so that they may buy a treat at the bake sale to support this cause. Thank you for your support.
Ms. Couch and Mme Kelly

Hello parents. Here are a few reminders about upcoming social justice initiatives and events/happenings:

1. The "We Scare Hunger" social justice initiative is in full swing at St. Gabriel. As outlined on the school website we are collecting non-perishable items for the Kanata food bank. Each grade level is responsible for a specific type of food and the kindergarten children are asked to bring in dried pasta and packaged cookies. We thank you for your efforts and support.

2. We have been talking about and walking through the lockdown drill. We have emphasized that the reason we do practice this procedure is for safety (no elaboration except to compare and contrast it with a fire drill).

3. We will be sending home the little slips of paper outlining the "Hopes and Dreams" you have for your child this year. We will attach the slip of paper to your child's photo on our "Hopes and Dreams" wall. Some families who attended the open house several weeks ago have already completed this project, therefore we will be sending the little papers home only to the twelve families who have not already completed them.

4. We have been singing Fall songs about leaves and encourage the children to bring in leaves they find on their nature walks or their walk home. We are doing leaf rubbings and other art projects like making leaf animals or scenes out of the leaves at our art table.

5. In September, our special story was the "Caps for Sale" story. We practiced our colours and acted out the story as a play. We created caps and a painted backdrop of a tree for the play. We practiced our colour words in French. .For the last two weeks we have been exploring the story of the giant turnip in French. The children have been participating in the telling of the story during our puppet show. We have been counting the characters in French too. Soon we will explore our next special story about a group of animals who cooperate to reach a goal (The story of the lovely big apple).
We will be making apple crisp while working with this story and ask that the children bring in two extra apples for the activity. Thank you ahead of time!.

6. The kindergarten students and their educators intend to take advantage of the rich learning opportunities that the outdoor environment provides us. With many walking paths and the Beaver Pond nearby, we hope to go a umber of walks this year. A permission form will be sent home in your child's mailbag. We ask that you please sign the permission form below. On these supervised walks (1:5 ratio), we will be looking for volunteers to accompany us along the way. Notice of our walks will be sent home ahead of time. We will often walk rain or shine so please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.

Thank you kindly,
Ms. Couch and Mme. Kelly

Welcome to Kindergarten- Housekeeping Items

We are very excited about our new year of full-day learning and inquiry! If you would like to receive emails whenever the blog is updated, please do not hesitate to sign up for that at the bottom of this page. Here you will find out what the students are working on (with suggestions for incorporating what they are learning at home) and important dates/upcoming events. September will be busy with routines and getting into the swing of things so, in keeping with that, here are some housekeeping items for the start of the year:

We do have a Twitter account, however, for administrative reasons we will not be using it until further notice. Here, more specific learning inquiries, events, photos, news or creations will later be posted. You will soon be able to follow us at twitter.com/kindergarten135. If you do not want your child's face to appear in our Twitter posts, please send a note clarifying this. [FYI: Our "followers" are the class' parents.]

Our Team:

Mme. Kelly- French Teacher and Homeroom Teacher

Mr. Desroches- English Teacher

Ms. Couch: RECE ( Registered Early Childhood Educator).

Family Tree:

Our classroom will have a family board that students can look at to remind them of home. If possible, please send a family photo with your child (remember to write their name on the back of their photo). These will be returned to you by the end of the school year.

Reminders- A few Housekeeping Items:

- If your child has not brought in a small blanket for rest time, we would be appreciated if you could provide one. It would be more comfortable if they had a small padded blanket to rest on top of and a small cozy blanket to put over them as well as a small pillow. These blankets will be sent home to be washed at the end of every month and on an as needs basis.

- Just a reminder that your child will need separate indoor running shoes that he/she can do up on their own (velcro is easier than laces for kindergarten children and prompts fewer tears during transitions). It is also recommended that you label your child’s belongings as many children have similar items.

- Your child has been given a mailbag (ziplock) with their name on it. We will use this bag to send home any notes/communications. We would also encourage you to send any notes (i.e. if you need to take your child out early for an appointment) in the communication book so we can easily see it as we do not go through the children’s backpacks.  If we have a note for you we will leave the communication book open and if you have one for us you may leave the book open to the page of the note as well. Please send the communication folder back each and every morning.

Oops:

Everyone has accidents and we want to make sure your child is as comfortable as possible should this happen. We would ask that you please send a ziplock bag with your child’s name on it containing some extra clothes in case an accident occurs. If an accident does occur we will send home the dirty clothes in this ziplock so you can send back some more extra clothes the next day.

Snacks:

Just a reminder that our school is nut free so please do not send any nuts or nut products (i.e. peanut butter) in your child’s lunch or snacks. We do have children in our kindergarten community who have anaphalaxis to nuts. If you send a snack with WOW butter in it, please put the sticker on so we know exactly what it is. Our classroom has a continuous rotation at a snack table that occurs within the first block. We will have a sit down snack time as well, and a lunch period. We encourage healthy eating. if possible, please send nutritious snacks for your child to eat (i.e. fruits and vegetables, protein and grains). We would also ask that you not send in treats for your child’s birthday. However, if you feel that you would like to send something on their special day, you could send in a wrapped, age-appropriate book that your child can unwrap, read as a class then donate to the classroom library.

Taking Care of the Environment at St. Gabriel: We are an eco gold school. Our initiatives are to be more paper free. Therefore, we will post any type of newsletters online through this format on our blog. In regards to children eating their lunches or snacks, we ask for you to consider litterless lunch options (tupperware and reusable containers). We also practice “boomerang” lunches to reduce waste consumption. A boomerang lunch is a lunch that has every piece of it return to its source. In other words, everything in the lunch goes back home at the end of the day. No matter if it is leftover food, containers, recyclables or garbage, it all goes back. Yes, even the garbage.

Final Notes:   If you have any Kleenex at home that you would like to donate to our classroom, it would be greatly appreciated (especially as the fall weather starts to turn cooler and the cold season approaches)! Also, if you have any boxes of ziplock bags that you are not using and would like to donate those would also be very much appreciated! Many friends have brought in glue sticks and markers as well! We appreciate all your donations!

Remember to check back often for updates! I will also be tweeting out reminders to check out our blog. Please follow us at kinderroom135.blogspot.ca.

Merci, Thank you,

Mme.Kelly, Ms.Couch  & Mr. Desroches 

Three Cheers for a Successful Few Weeks!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Three cheers for a successful start to the school year.  Our Senior Kinders have eased into the program like experts, becoming true leaders.  Our new Junior Kindergarten friends have done a great job transitioning into their first school year.  We have spent our time learning about our classroom, daily routines, how to use the materials that can be found, and making new friends.  This was our focus for the month of September.

Please remember to visit and subscribe to our classroom blog.  There is a current blog post that speaks a bit to our daily routines as well as other housekeeping items.  

Blog: kinderroom135.blogspot.ca

Also, please visit our school website for information regarding school news:  http://gab.ocsb.ca/

Our day consists of two 15 minute recesses (morning and afternoon) and one 30 minute recess mid-day. Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather, as we do spend much of our classroom time outside exploring both during recess and during class outdoor learning times. Please have the children come to school with sunglasses, hats and sunscreen (have them also put some sunscreen on before they leave for school). The sun's rays can damage our skin even on cloudy days.

As the weather is variable in the fall, layering is helpful. Light mittens and hats will be useful as colder weather approaches.

At nap time it would be great for the children to have a small blanket (one for over and one with some padding for under them) and a small pillow. 

A gentle reminder to please label all of your child’s belongings...outdoor shoes, hats, sweaters, lunch containers.  Our little guys often do not recognize their belongings. A name really helps to get things back to their rightful owners. Thank you!

Please send a family photo for our Family Tree. This photograph will hang in our classroom and will be a special reminder for our kinders when they are missing home.  Please write your child’s name on the back of the photo.  

We are very much looking forward to this new school year and look forward to working along with you in your child’s education and fostering a love for school.  Please do not hesitate to contact us using your child’s communication book.  

God Bless!

Mme.Kelly, Ms. Couch, and Mr. Desroches